Victim... Jessica Bennet and her son Jonah, who was slapped by Joe Rickey Hundley.

A MAN who pleaded guilty to slapping a crying toddler on a US flight has been sentenced to eight months in federal prison.

Joe Rickey Hundley pleaded guilty in October after reaching a plea agreement with prosecutors.

Prosecutors say Hundley used a racial slur to refer to the 19-month-old boy, who is black, and hit him under the eye as the flight descended to the Atlanta airport in February.

Prosecutors had recommended six months in prison. The judge said he imposed a higher sentence in part because of Hundley's criminal history, which includes a prior assault.

Hundley's lawyer objected to the deviation from the recommendation in the plea agreement and said after the hearing that she believes the sentence is disproportionate.

The mother of the child, Jessica Bennett, told reporters she was "scared to death" during the February 8 incident.

She said her adopted son Jonah was crying because he was "feeling the pressure in his ears" but Hundley, who was seated next to her in row 28, demanded she "shut that n****r baby up" and said he was too big to be a "lap baby".

"I said, 'What did you just say?'" Mrs Bennett said. "And he was so drunk that he fell onto my face, and his mouth moved over to my ear and he said it, just directly into my ear."

She claims he then reached over and slapped her child.

"When I looked at Jonah's face, his eye was swollen... and it was bleeding. I was just scared to death," Mrs Bennett said.

She says Jonah had been traumatised by the incident and became "apprehensive to strangers".

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